The cost of the two Etihad flights was $30 + 120,000 AAdvantage miles. I rationalized that receiving a 10,000 mile rebate from having the Citi AA card would make the 110k redemption worthwhile. During the booking process, the agent in the AA Singapore office (since the AA American office still can’t find availability) asked me if I thought it was worth spending 120k to fly from Asia to the US in first when a first class flight would only be 67,500 on Cathay Pacific. Consumed by apartments and not by sound logic, I said of course.

All night I tossed and turned as the agent’s words replayed in my head. Was it really worth spending double miles simply for apartments? Then the back and forth ensued:

Back: AA is devaluing, if you want to fly Cathay after March you’ll end up paying 120k. This way you get business class and apartments for the same price. Don’t forget you’ll receive a 9k rebate!

Forth: Idiot, you know you’ll find a way to book apartments before then. Don’t waste your points.

Back & Forth: Why don’t you just book the apartments from AUH-JFK. That will cost you 90k points and then you can find a way to get to Abu Dhabi without burning 30k points.

Back: You might as well pay the 30k then because it’s a 10 hour flight from Shanghai to Abu Dhabi in Etihad business.

4 COMMENTS

Only you know your circumstances. I’d probably do it, particularly if you have the miles and they’re not earmarked for any specific use. It’s not going to be any cheaper to fly Etihad in the future, so if your goal is Apartments, “Get er done” as the duck dynasticists or whoever say. If you want to fly Cathay, use Alaska miles.